


Don’t Let Your Eyes Wander (Oh Let Them Wander Back to Me)

by Jadzibelle



Category: Haven - Fandom
Genre: Background Audrey Parker, Background Chris Brody, Chris Brody's Trouble, Episode 2.06 Audrey Parker's Day Off, M/M, Mildly Jealous Nathan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-02
Updated: 2015-11-02
Packaged: 2018-04-29 12:52:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5128340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jadzibelle/pseuds/Jadzibelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nathan does not like the way Duke is looking at Chris.<br/>(Just a quick look at the scene in the bar at the end of 2.06, and *that touch*.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don’t Let Your Eyes Wander (Oh Let Them Wander Back to Me)

It really shouldn’t bother him.

It was a Trouble.  That was all it was.  Nathan  _knew that_.  Nathan knew _exactly_ why Duke was grinning after Chris Brody like a schoolboy with a crush (and Nathan knew exactly what Duke had looked like as a schoolboy with a crush, he was  _not exaggerating_ ).  It was Chris’s Trouble and nothing more.

It really shouldn’t bother him.

It really,  _really_ bothered him.

Maybe it wouldn’t, if Chris weren’t making his way out onto the deck to comfort Audrey, if Chris hadn’t managed to  _actually_ and  _legitimately_ win Audrey’s attention and affection.  Maybe it wouldn’t, if that didn’t imply that there  _was_ something genuinely likeable about Chris, something worth noticing.  But Chris  _was_ going out to Audrey,  _had_ legitimately won her affection,  _must_ therefore be  _worth noticing_ , and he absolutely could not stand that Duke was  _reacting_.

Trouble or no Trouble.

So maybe he got a little bit more into Duke’s space than he really needed to, crossing back over to the bar.  He maybe came to a stop just a little bit closer than necessary, leaned just a little bit more than necessary.  …And maybe he deliberately and pointedly crossed Duke’s field of vision, using their similar heights and his own proximity to cut Chris off from Duke’s view, interrupting the dazing, dazzling effect of the Trouble.

And maybe it stung just a little more than he’d ever admit, when Duke’s expression went from utterly,  _laughably_ fawning to completely flummoxed when his attention fixed on Nathan.

Though at least his attention  _did_ fix on Nathan, habit of long standing pulling Duke’s gaze along in his wake instead of allowing it to stay fixated on Chris.  It was that, the habitual certainty of Duke’s attention, that let Nathan keep a show of good humor.

“What?” Duke asked, after a moment, registering  _something_ in Nathan’s expression, and Nathan leaned in just a little nearer.

“Chris is Troubled,” Nathan said.  “You don’t look at him, you don’t get all… man crush.”

Duke scoffed, clearly disbelieving.

“No way,” he said, and,  _of course_ , immediately turned to look, because he was  _like that_ , because Nathan could warn him that the stove was on and his first damn impulse would be to put his hand down on it to check.  And of course, as soon as his attention was back on Chris, the same dreamy, giddy expression stole back over his features, and that was, frankly,  _unacceptable_.  He might have to accept that Audrey genuinely liked the guy, Immune as she was, but he was  _not_ going to continue to watch  _Duke_ be captivated too.

He reached up, and Duke was already responding to his movement (and  _that_ , that was  _satisfying_ , knowing that Duke’s instinct to respond to Nathan was stronger than the Trouble pulling him in) before Nathan made contact, but he followed through anyway, a brief, simple touch.  The brush of a finger along Duke’s jaw, a silent and  _pointed_ instruction to  _pay attention_ , to look at Nathan instead of Chris.  He saw the instant Duke registered what had happened, the sudden widening of his eyes, and nodded, gave a quiet “mhm” confirming that  _yes_ , Duke had just proved exactly the point Nathan had been trying to make, and Duke _cringed_ , raising one hand to not-quite-touch as he visibly went over all of his behavior from the morning.  He pulled back, brought his hand up to cover his face, and folded forward, into Nathan’s space, another not-quite-touch that nonetheless spoke  _volumes_ , and he groaned, clearly humiliated.

“ _Now_ you tell me?” Duke demanded, indignant.

“Hey, no judgements,” Nathan teased, taking entirely too much satisfaction out of Duke’s obvious discomfort, out of his visible displeasure at having been so taken in, “he’s a handsome guy.”

Duke stared, open-mouthed and still indignant and just as clearly completely without a comeback, and Nathan turned away, let himself be amused, because  _that_ was funny.

“…Yeah,” Duke said, after a second, tone resigned and reluctantly amused, yielding the field to Nathan, and that was a rare surprise.  “Yeah, shut up.”  Duke shook his head and pushed a beer down the bar as Nathan took a seat, and he was still squirmingly uncomfortable, but he nonetheless still reached out for their customary salute as soon as Nathan accepted his beer.  “He’s not really my type.”

“Oh, you have a type now?” Nathan asked, because he had to, because he couldn’t let it pass.

“Yeah.  Snarky, sarcastic cops with legs that don’t quit,” Duke replied, and it was careful, it was always careful- it was easily dismissed as Audrey, or Rebecca (and Nathan had known about  _that_ little dalliance for years), but the quick flick of a glance down to where Nathan had one foot propped against the bar, leg stretched and knee just slightly bent, left room for… interpretation.

“That’s a dangerous type for a man in your line of work,” Nathan said dryly, just as careful, but it helped, soothed some last bit of  _irritation_ from watching Duke watch Chris.

“I don’t know what you mean,  _Chief_ , I’m a restaurateur,” Duke replied, with a cocky grin, and Nathan shook his head, took a sip of his beer, and let himself enjoy his victory.

And if he was just a little more pleased than he should be, when Chris moved to join them and Duke turned immediately and decisively  _away_ , well, he didn’t need to mention that to anyone.  


End file.
